In the field of the devices for treating muscular contractures, which can affect the muscles next to the cervical rachis, apparatuses of the fixed type are well known, which are provided with massaging groups embodied inside the backs of armchairs or which can be applied in a rigid or immovable manner to a bed or to the upper portion of the back of a seat. Deliberately without considering devices of the fixed type as they must be used in lying or sitting position, and anyway for domestic or similar uses, devices of the wearable type are well known for treating the cervical pain, which are shaped similarly to collars completely surrounding the neck area and which present heights of different extension according to the performances for which they have been designed, which are therefore more practical to be used. Generally, most of these apparatuses is able to supply heat, whose effect is that of relaxing the muscular contracture, to which the pain is associated. In other cases, an action of touching can be associated to the heat supply so as to mime the movement of the fingers of a physiotherapist. In particular, reference is made to the teachings of some patent documents, the most significant of which are listed below. In particular, the European patent document EP 0784968 gives teachings to construct an inflatable device for treating the vertebral column. This device is provided with a substantially cylindrical portion, which is shaped so as peripherally to surround the neck and is provided with a plurality of laces usable to open it laterally so as to adjust an annular pressure thereof. This substantially cylindrical portion is provided with a plurality of inflatable elements and it is delimited at the top by a sort of collar, suitable to support the head, and at the bottom by a base, shaped so as to rest on the chest and the shoulders, so as to be suitable to exert a traction action on the user's neck. This apparatus is provided with a so-called electrotherapy device, which can be connected in a substantially adhering manner to the area to be treated for supplying heat. The patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,185 describes a device for exerting traction of the cervical tract by using an inflatable member, which is U-shaped to surround, at the back and at the side, the neck of a user, and is provided with a band surrounding the user's head at the height of the forehead to be hold between the respective shoulders and the nape during cycles of traction of the neck. The traction is exerted through a pneumatic pump, which can be also manual, according to the given teachings. In the patent application US 2005/059909 a collar is described, which is produced in foam or rubber, is U-shaped and is provided with straps to be applied to the neck of a user in a substantially matching manner. This device integrates, at the rear, a heating unit and a massaging unit provided with an eccentric body put into rotation by an electrically powered motor. Heating and vibration are therefore supplied in the same region of the neck. As it is well known, whilst the application of heat in the cervical area is allowed and only has beneficial effects, the case of cervical massage is different, as it must be performed by a specialist so as not to jeopardize the patient's safety. These notes are surely known by the Applicant of this patent application, who will provide massages of low entity, to which absolutely soft and therefore substantially ineffective actions are associated, so as not to cause damages to the rachis of the users.
With reference to the patent application US2002/0183666, a device is illustrated, wherein a frame, which can be worn by using a pectoral band, houses an inflatable device provided with two mutually adjacent guides, so as to assume symmetric positions relative to the vertebral columns of a user, to which an inflatable cushion is associated at the rear, supplied by a compressed air mini-generator. Each guide carries slidable a massaging unit and the alternating inflating and deflating action of the cushion produces a pressure on the two massaging units towards the muscles of the user, similar to the localised finger pressure. The two massaging units are coupled to each other, by means of a belt motorised through an electric motor, so as to be movable with alternating motion along their own guide. In addition, it is possible to couple a heating device, which is not illustrated, to this massaging device, in order to give benefits described in a generic manner. In this case the massaging action is always in phase opposition, and therefore unbalanced. Furthermore, the motorisation of the massaging units and the compressed air generator are outside the wearable frame and are contained inside a box, the most adequate arrangement of which is not described. Obviously, the pectoral band allows to maintain the frame, and therefore the massaging units, into contact with the user's back. It should be noted that the frame is shaped in a substantially flat manner, notwithstanding two portions touching at the back the shoulders of a user. It should be noted that releasing the pectoral band causes sliding of the device downwards due to gravity, with possible negative consequences for the user and, surely, for the device. In view of what described with reference to the patent application US2002/0183666, it is clearly apparent that the device in question results to be poorly effective, noisy, due to the continuous inflating and deflating of the cushion, bulky, uncomfortable to be worn and invasive, and it is therefore poorly adequate for working contexts.
With reference to the patent application US2004/0127822, a plurality of massaging devices for the back are described, coupled to a chair for hairdressing salons. Among the various devices, one is described, which can be separated from the chair, without specifying whether it is portable or not, even if it is difficult to understand how it can be worn without the continuous supporting action exerted by a user, due to the deformation illustrated in FIG. 15. In this case again it is possible to note the combination of massaging and heating elements, carried by a frame, which is limited at the top by a sort of housing for the region of the vertebra 7 of the cervical rachis. With reference to the first massaging elements, the teaching is given of using rotatory elements arranged adjacent to each other, so as to be arranged symmetrically relative to the spine of a user; among these elements, two are arranged transversally to the back of a user, at the side of the cervical rachis, and two are substantially cylindrical, arranged in an underlying position and adjacent to each other; each longitudinal rotatory element is provided with an elongated helix in a position deemed to be immediately adjacent to the spine. The heating effect seems to be obtained through a pair of coils, one of which seems to be arranged above the rotatory elements and the other surrounds laterally and inferiorly the two longitudinal massaging elements. It is easy to understand that the device has been designed paying low attention to the real needs of people suffering from muscular-tension cervicodynia and with a lot of mechanical and heating devices. It cannot be ignored that the actuation of these devices requires a great availability of electricity, which can be supplied only through mains connection or through an heavy and bulky battery, which is hardly portable, unless to complicate the unwell status induced by the cervicodynia. It is not surprising that the patent application does not mention how the device is powered to allow functioning thereof, and that the device is not therefore really portable.
In view of the above description, the problem of treating the muscles next to the cervical rachis in an adequate manner through an effectively wearable device is solved in an unsatisfactory manner according to the teachings of the patent literature related to this sector, and it represents an interesting challenge for the applicant, which desires substantially to modify and to wide the market of these products.
In view of the above description it would be desirable to have available a massaging device that, in addition to limit and possibly to overcome the typical drawbacks of the art illustrated above, could define a new standard for these products.